Bright Eyes and Strong Hands
by SnowflakeStealsStars
Summary: After Bolin finds Mako and Korra kissing, he runs to the arms of his greatest love, food. As he is in the sweet embrace a full stomach can give, he meets a very strange and comforting woman named Maylin who helps him discover what love and friendship really mean. (Bolin/OC)
1. Calm Before the Storm

**Author's Note:**

**I do not own any of the characters listed below except for my OC's Maylin, Sharu and the fortune telling lady. Other OC's may be added later but for now, those are the only characters I own. I also do not own the world this takes place in as it belongs to the two men who created the "Legend of Korra" series.**

* * *

It was chilly when Bolin awoke with Pabu gently snoring into his bare chest. The sun had barely begun to come up above the horizon of Republic City and Bolin found it eerily beautiful. He lazily stretched and accidentally jostled Pabu onto the pillow next to him. Bolin chuckled at the tiny fire ferret's confusion.

"Don't worry Pabu. It's just a brand new day, and I have a feeling something good is going to happen," he said. "I'm asking Korra out after our team practice. Isn't that exciting?"

Bolin quickly got dressed and rushed down to the street below his and his brother's tiny flat. He wandered aimlessly about the city doing odds and ends jobs for some extra cash to buy a gift for Korra.

As he stumbled into a shop, he heard a mysterious voice call out to him.

"Well hello there sonny-boy," an ancient woman called to him from the back to the room. "Want to know your fortune? It's free of charge."  
Bolin hesitated. However, the idea of a free fortune-telling appealed to him.

"Sure," Bolin replied to the woman, "I'd love to know my future."

The decrepit lady chuckled harshly and thrust her wrinkled hand out to grasp his wrist. "It all starts with the life line, sweetheart." she rasped.  
He watched her withered fingers trace all along his calloused hands that were twice the size of hers. After about six minutes, the woman gasped and fell into a fit of coughs and laughter.

"What is it? What's so funny?" Bolin cried out.

"Oh nothing deary. It's just that things aren't always as they seem."

The woman paused and Bolin glanced up at her. Her golden fire-nation eyes bore into his own emerald-green ones. He felt unnerved but refused to look away.

"There is a young woman in your life," the woman cautiously said as Bolin's eyes grew twice their normal size. "She is beautiful in a subtle way. Her hair is silken and her eyes are as blue as the moon on the lake of Omashu. She moves the earth in a way like none other and her hands are stronger than any man's. She has suffered some loss but it has made her into the strong-willed woman that she is today. You will see her soon and she will comfort you and guide you into the right direction, only..." The woman paused here as Bolin's mouth hung open in awe. "...only you will not see what she is doing until the sun sets on the seventh night. There will be a tower and an ocean and then you will make your final decision as the sun sets."

Bolin grinned at the ancient woman like a drunken idiot. "_She had described Korra perfectly,_" he thought. "_She even got her eyes the right color._"

The woman squeezed his hands together and blew purple smoke into them. "It is finished," she whispered. "It is now done. Go! Be gone from this place and get flowers so pink that the sun rise will be envious of them! Go boy...and prosper in your endeavors."

Bolin nodded quickly and left the store. He threw a few coins into a small child's cup and walked gaily toward the marketplace.  
The shops all had their doors and windows open to let the cool breeze in. Children ran in the streets laughing and playing ball. Mothers sat in chairs and gossiped to one another as their babies rolled around on soft patchwork blankets. Everyone seemed just as happy as Bolin did. In every shop he went into, there was a smile and a story for him.

Bolin spent the better part of the morning wandering around and playing with the children. Sometime around noon, he broke away from the playing children and walked around until he found his favorite noodle shop. He looked at the newly cleaned facade of the building and found a young woman sweeping the front steps. He smiled at her and she looked up from her work. Her face was delicately beautiful and Bolin couldn't help but chuckle at the way her bangs kept falling into her eyes when the wind blew. She was very pretty and he had seen her there before but had never really gotten a chance to know her. He decided, on a rash impulse, that now seemed to be a good time, and he began to walk over to her.

Just as he began his ascent to the top of the stone steps leading into the shop, a man came up to the young woman and began to speak to her in a harsh tone.

"Maylin what are you doing out here? We need you back on the crew. The roads aren't even half done and there's still an entire complex to build," the man said exasperatedly. "You don't even care about what happens if we don't finish in time do you?"

"I do care Sharu. But you know my terms." the girl replied.

"We can't afford your terms!" the man shouted in her face.

"Well," Maylin began, "it seems we have reached an impasse. Either I get the money you and your crew owe me or you're all on your own."

The man, Sharu, sighed heavily. "You drive a hard bargain Maylin. You really do. I can get you the money when the job is done."

"No tricks mister. I want the money up front and I can finish the job myself."

Sharu's face turned an intense color of red and he stalked off.

"It's been nice working for you Sharu. Good Luck!" Maylin called after the man, now almost out of sight. She returned to her sweeping and lazily entered back into the shop to clean a now empty table.

Bolin wondered how the girl had been in construction but couldn't dwell on the thought for long. The clock tower rising high above the city chimed two and Bolin rushed to the stadium for Fire Ferret practice and to see his beloved Korra.


	2. Date Night

**The only characters I own in the story are Maylin, Sharu, and the Fortune Telling Lady. This story line differs slightly from the actual story line of season one. (Rated T for slightly foul language)**

* * *

"Dammit Bolin!" Mako yelled as a rogue disk flew through the air, ramming him in the side.

"Sorry Mako. I got distracted," Bolin sheepishly yelled back.

Seeing that the boys were distracted by each other, Korra took advantage of the situation and slammed them both into the back wall with a huge gust of water.

"I think I'm going to call that move the 'Brother Basher'," Korra screamed over the boy's outcries. "Oh, and if you don't want to get hit, you've got to stay light on your toes." She chuckled as she bended water to her mouth and reclined on a pile of disks.

"I'd say that was a great practice, wouldn't you Mako?" Korra asked.

Mako simply grunted and glared at Bolin who continued to make goo-goo eyes at Korra. "It would have been a great practice had someone had their head in it!" he mumbled towards his younger brother.

Bolin ignored him and sauntered over to pick up the small bracelet that Pabu had been keeping safe. "Thanks buddy," he whispered to the chittering fire ferret, "I owe you one."

Mako groaned and tried to storm out of the practice arena when Korra caught him.

"So, ummm, Mako," Korra began, " I've been wondering...would you like to hang out tonight?"

Mako stared at her and grumbled something unintelligible.

"I mean," she continued, "we could go get some noodles or walk around the park?"

Mako cleared his throat to tell her that he didn't feel like it when his girlfriend Asami ran into the arena.

"Mako that was wonderful!" Asami cried out. "You did so well. I've never seen fire-bending like that before." Asami quickly leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "I swear, you're an artist with this stuff," she whispered to him.

Mako blushed and turned to walk out with Asami when he remembered Korra.

"Oh, Korra, this is my girlfriend Asami. Asami, this is my teammate and the avatar Korra." Mako quickly blurted out.

Korra turned white and stammered out a quick "It's nice to meet you Asami" before she turned and walked away.

Mako began to feel sick but quickly changed his mood when Asami told him that her father wanted to speak with him about something important. The couple left the arena leaving Bolin and Korra alone.

"Sooooo Korra..." Bolin shouted despite the quiet surrounding them. "Go out with me?"

Korra's eyes grew three sizes as she stared at the soft hearted earth-bender.

"W-what?" she replied.

Bolin blushed and ran his hand back through his hair. "Go out with me? Tonight? We could get noodles and walk in the park?"

Korra thought back to her proposition of Mako and quickly agreed to Bolin's request.

"Great. Meet me down here at six and we can walk over together. Oh, and wear this. It'll look great with your eyes." Bolin handed her the small hand-crafted bracelet and confidently walked out of the arena to head upstairs.

* * *

At six o'clock, Bolin was fresh and ready in the practice arena waiting for Korra. After fifteen minutes passed, he began to grow nervous.

"Do you think she changed her mind, Pabu?" he quietly asked the fire ferret who only stared at him as a response.

"Me neither buddy." he whispered.

Just then, Korra came rushing through the doors.

"Sorry I'm late. It's hard to walk in these shoes. Jinora made me wear them." She said as Bolin gave her a quick glance over.

"I think you're beautiful." he beamed. "Now c'mon. I'm starving!"

Korra laughed and grabbed a hold of his forearm for support and they set off down the street to Bolin's favorite noodle shop.

* * *

Upon arriving, they were quickly seated at a table and the woman Bolin had noticed earlier brought out their drinks without asking them what they wanted.

"That was fast," Korra mumbled into her frothy soda. "She must know what we always order since we're here so much."

Bolin smiled and sipped at his cup of jasmine tea. "Yea, that's got to be it." he replied.

A few minutes later, the same woman came out with their favorite dishes and smiled at Bolin.

"Enjoy. I'll be back out later to bring you dessert. And don't worry, it's on the house."

She retreated back to the kitchen when Korra started to aimlessly talk about fighting strategies she learned from Mako.

Even though Bolin wanted to listen to Korra, he simply couldn't keep his mind off of the young woman.

_"Who is she?"_ he thought,_ "And why do I want to get to know her after all this time?"_

Bolin's train of thought was suddenly cut off when the young woman came out carrying a flaming cake.

"Baked Alaska for the..." she paused puzzling over the right words to say, "for the dynamic duo." Her face lit up as she found the words that fit the two people seated at the table.

Korra watched the girl's hands daintily cut through the tender cake and place it in front of her.

Bolin, however, could only watch the girl's eyes glisten in the soft light of the candles. They were an intense blue signifying that she was from the water-nation or at least had a water-nation parent. He smiled at this thought and as she turned to leave to help another guest, he softly called out "Thank you, Maylin."

The girl pirouetted and grinned at him. "It's no problem Bo. Enjoy."

Bolin watched as she danced around the room helping customer after customer with a smile always on her face. He watched as Maylin brought out jasmine tea to an upset woman and taught a young boy to use chopsticks.

Korra finally broke his gaze when she pointed out a flamboyant man staring at them from across the shop.

"Who is that creepy guy that keeps staring at us?" Korra asked with a mouthful of noodle.

Bolin slowly turned in his seat as the man got up. "Oh crap. Korra, that's Tahno. He's the toughest water bender in all of pro-bending. His team never loses the championship. Just keep your head down. He's bad news."

Just as Bolin finished describing Tahno, he came strolling over to the table.

"Well, isn't it nice to see the uh-vatar eating at a regular old noodle place like everyone else?" Tahno asked his crew.

They all chuckled and Korra glared at them but kept her mouth shut.

"I guess I'll see you all at the tournament," Tahno taunted, "that is, if you can raise the money." He laughed maniacally and sauntered away.

"Korra," Bolin began, "l-let's get out of here. I've got this amazing place I want to show you. It's even cooler than the park. I promise."  
Korra nodded her head and the two left the shop.

As Bolin closed the door behind him, he thought he saw Sharu pull Maylin into one of the private dining rooms but couldn't tell for sure. He brushed the thought off and proceeded to lead Korra to the secret magical place he always loved.


End file.
